Community support

Telehealth

Telehealth, also known as telemedicine, is the use of technology to exchange medical information between providers. This innovative approach to patient care allows physicians to consult with one another without traveling to remote sites. Current and upcoming telemedicine services at Children’s Health include:

• TeleNICU: A dedicated neonatal telehealth service that uses specialized equipment that allows neonatologists at Children’s Health to virtually examine newborns at distant-site NICUs. This service can minimize, or even eliminate, the need to transport babies who need a specialized level of care. 
• School Based Telehealth: Children’s Medical Center Dallas has embarked on a new project with 26 Dallas-area schools that involves the use of mobile telehealth carts. The carts will allow for a virtual consultation with a Children’s physician when a child shows up in the nurse’s office with a complaint that is outside the nurse’s level of expertise (pre-registration in the program by the parent will be required).

  Read more about School Based Telehealth

• Virtual Visit: A program that allows patients the opportunity to video chat with providers via their cell phone.
• VGo Robot: The VGo Robot, the newest technology aid that Children’s Health provides patients who are not able to physically attend school.

School-based programs

Research shows that improved health will lead to increased academic success. Children’s Health℠ is partnering with local schools on several exciting new initiatives to keep children healthy. From wellness and prevention to chronic illness management, our school-based health program objectives are to ensure optimal health care outcomes for children. These programs are designed to improve health literacy and decrease the amount of time kids are out of school due to illness, and thereby increasing the amount of time spent on learning.

GoNoodle

Children’s Health has expanded the reach of its school-based health programs as far south as San Antonio and as far east as Tyler with an additional investment in GoNoodle, the leading provider of online movement videos and games that gets kids moving.

• The sponsorship allows children in nearly 300 school districts – more than 1,400 elementary schools across Texas – to enjoy fun and educational movement videos designed to keep their young minds active and healthy.

View list of participating districts

GoNoodle’s short, interactive movement videos help channel classroom energy and improve student focus. This tool offers teachers access to over 120 interactive videos that incorporate vigorous movement into the school day. GoNoodle also offers calming mindfulness exercises, and some videos include key health topics for health skills reinforcement.

While the goal is to provide a physical activity break, these 3-5 minute videos, games and exercises also reinforce core subject content, aiding in subject fluency through kinesthetic learning and assist teachers in positive classroom management while achieving student focus and time on task. Over 2,900 Texas teachers in the Children’s Health sponsored regions are already using GoNoodle, delivering more than 6 million minutes of in-classroom physical activity each month.

Parents can also turn screen time into active time with GoNoodle! Kids, teachers and parents can set up a free account by simply registering at www.gonoodle.com.

Continuing education for school nurses

The school nurses program at Children's Health℠, in partnership with the Regional 10 Education Service Center, collaborates with school health providers through online and live educational opportunities in order to facilitate optimal health for children in the learning environment.
By fostering relationships with area school nurses, across more than nine counties in North Texas, the school health program at Children's can offer multiple trainings, on a variety of health conditions.  Nurses can earn Continuing Education credits by participating in the monthly webinar series titled, The Nurse Is In. Every month during the academic school year, a content expert presents information on a different topic related to school nursing.

Community health and outreach programs

Children’s Community Outreach Programs intends to make the process for requesting speakers, event staffing, or program sponsorship at school health fairs and events more streamlined. Each year, Children’s Health provides a number of education and outreach programs to keep your kids healthy and safe including:

• Children’s Health Speakers Bureau: An avenue by which parents, civic groups and area businesses can request expert speakers
• Coaches Clinics: Clinics to educate coaches on the importance of sports injury prevention
• Dallas-Area Safe Kids Coalition: A community initiative to prevent childhood injuries
• Dean Foods LEAN (Lifestyle Exercise and Nutrition) Families Program: A program that is designed to teach parents and their children a healthy lifestyle through proper nutrition and overall behavior modification
• Dental outreach: An outreach program that provide oral health education and dental health promotion materials to expecting mothers
• Disease management programs: Programs that offer access to evidence-based care and multidisciplinary support for the management of chronic conditions
• Get A Move On: A city-wide fitness initiative and awareness campaign
• Know Before You Go: A program that spreads the message that every drowning is preventable when parents take appropriate precautions

Legislative advocacy

Children’s also works with community and state partners to serve as advocates for all children, promoting access to medical services and working to improve their overall health, education, safety and security. We promote children's issues on many legislative fronts, including sponsoring bi-annual advocacy trips to the state Capitol.

Affordable health insurance for children

Children’s is a sponsor of the Dallas CHIP coalition, which seeks to help families with uninsured children apply for affordable health insurance.

Childhood obesity

Children’s also is a sponsor of the Dallas Area Coalition to Prevent Childhood Obesity, which promotes healthy lifestyles in Dallas area children through physical activity and nutrition.

Immunizations

Children’s collaborates with the Immunize Kids! Dallas Area Partnership to improve immunization rates of area children.